August 17, 2009 — In addition to this week's NewsBreak(s), the editors have compiled the Weekly News Digest, featuring stories from the week just past that you should know about. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.

The Cambridge Library Collection is a new collaboration between the Cambridge University Library and Cambridge University Press, the world's oldest publisher. Already a pioneer in the republishing of titles from its own backlist, Cambridge University Press is extending its reach to include other books of enduring scholarly value that are still of interest to researchers, students, and the general reader. Examples include a book on Darwinism by the other great theorist of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace; two preliminary essays to On the Origin of Species; family reminiscences of Jane Austen gathered by her nephew; the correspondence between Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt; a study of the health of the rowers in the Oxford and Cambridge boat race between 1829 and 1869; and a 19th-century Englishwoman's impressions of America.

The Cambridge Library Collection uses state-of-the-art scanning and print-on-demand technology to make accessible in new ways works that, until now, would have been available only in libraries. The Press's unique relationship with Cambridge University Library allows access to a vast range of out-of-print and out-of-copyright titles.

The Press takes advice from experts worldwide on which books in their subject areas should be included in the program. Each book is carefully scanned, and the resulting files undergo a rigorous process of cleaning, in which any blemishes are removed to obtain a crisp and legible text. Each book has a new cover design and a specially written blurb that highlights the relevance of the book to today's readers.

The Cambridge Library Collection launched on July 20 with 475 titles, to celebrate the 475 years since the Press was granted permission to print "all manner of books" by the Letters Patent of Henry VIII. By the end of 2009, this number will have grown to more than 1,000. Visit the Cambridge Library Collection Website at www.cambridge.org/clc and watch this video clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-oA4sZ9nNQ.